Chapter 6

Amelia and Oliver were sitting in the stands that surrounded the quidditch pitch. They had decided to take a little time away from the constant nearness of their friends and have a little time together. Oliver had pulled her close, kissing her every few seconds, as she was trying to tell him about the latest lesson she had assisted Lupin in. After a while she gave up, kissing him back. When they broke apart they started discussing the fight Ron and Hermione had in the common room that morning.

"Hermione Granger? Harry's friend right?" Amelia nodded.

"Yeah, and just when they made up after the whole firebolt debacle."

"Well, I don't blame Harry for being mad about that." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but Hermione was right. What if that broom was cursed? It could've killed him. And then you would miss the chance to do just that during practice tomorrow." Oliver laughed at her joke, before turning serious again. He had really been drilling his team, working hard to get everything out of them. They could not afford to lose another match, not if he wanted to grab his last chance to win the cup. He had been angry about his star seeker losing his broom, but understood why it had to be checked for curses. Both Oliver and Amelia got a little uneasy at the thought of a murderer being after Harry. Not that it was something new. For the third year in a row there was something dangerous revolving around Gryffindor's golden boy. After a minute or two of silence, they moved on to lighter topics. Like the twins' upcoming birthday.

X- Harry Potter –X

Several weeks had passed since that day in the stands. Weeks in which not much had happened. The only thing that really were interesting were, once again, the lessons with professor Lupin. Harry was progressing slowly in his Patronus lessons and Amelia had been granted permission to act as an teaching assistent during her free periods. Now, at 11:59 P.M., March 31st their little group of friends was holed up in the common room, waiting patiently until the twins returned from yet another one of their nightly trips to the kitchen. They seemed to visit the kitchen more than they went to their lessons it seemed. They walked in exactly one minute later, to a chorus of 'Happy birthday!' and soon they were sitting around, enjoying the butterbeer and snacks the twins had taken back from the kitchens. When the butterbeer was all gone, Oliver ran upstairs, only to come down with a bottle of firewhisky and a big grin on his face.

"Who's up for a little game of 'never have I ever'?" They had all been introduced to the muggle game by Katie a few months back, the night they had all spent at the leaky cauldron. The reaction was all positive and soon they were gathered around the fireplace, glasses filled with firewhiskey in their hands. Since it was the twins' birthday, they were the ones to go first, starting with George.

"Never have I ever... put on a dress!" Rolling their eyes all the girls took a drink, almost spitting it out when they noticed Fred doing the same.

"It was a dare." He said with a shrug. They all laughed at the thought, before continuing on. Fred thought about his sentence for a while. "Okay, I've got one. Never have I ever had a temper tantrum at school." Amelia let out a little grumble as both her and Oliver drank. It was common knowledge that she had quite a temper, often exploding over relatively small things.

"Okay, my turn!" Katie went next, followed by Lee, Amelia, Oliver and Angelina. Then it was Alicia's turn.

"Never have I ever... had a crush on someone in this group." Oliver and Amelia both took a drink, followed by both Fred and George, two pairs of ears turned a very obvious shade of red. Confused looks were thrown around by the girls, but they soon moved on to another round of the game. It was nearing the break of dawn when they finally went up to their dorm rooms, trying hard not to wake up anyone else in the process.

X- Harry Potter –X

Easter had passed and the tension for the final quidditch match of the year was building. Oliver was drilling the team harder than ever, and the team gladly followed his orders, wanting to finally win the cup. The slytherins were getting even more annoying than they usually were, although the little Malfoy git seemed to have taken a little distance from every flash of Gryffindor red he saw. The day before the match, Amelia was walking back from the quidditch pitch, having watched the team practice for a bit. She was unaware of the person following her at first. But he made the mistake of stepping on a small stick, making her turn around. She narrowed her eyes at the lonely figure of Marcus Flint, Slytherin's team captain and a wanker in general. His eyes flashed dangerously, the setting sun reflecting in his almost black eyes. Involuntarily Amelia took a step back, not trusting the look in his eyes one bit. He took a step towards her.

"Well, well, well... if it isn't Wood's little plaything. Shouldn't you be with your dear little loser back at the pitch?" Amelia bared her teeth at him.

"Back off Flint!"

"Would you look at that... The little kitten's got claws. Tell me, kitten, did Wood make you his yet?" She felt hate and anger boil up inside her and she knew he was going to regret every word he was saying to her as soon as she exploded. "Of course he didn't. Wood isn't man enough for you. You need a real man. One that shows you your place. Then again, those twins look like they might be into some freaky shit, I bet you're their plaything as well, when your little boyfriend isn't looking. But I wouldn't expect anything less from a little slag like you." She flexed her fingers, which seemed to be locked in a claw-like manner. "Is the kitten going to scratch me? You're not so bad as they say. Just a harmless little-" That did it. Her vision turned red and she pulled her arm back. Before Flint registered what was happening, her fist connected with his nose, breaking it in the progress. He fell to the ground, looking up at her with hate in his eyes and a pained look on his face. With a menacing grin that she only reserved for people she really, really hated, she looked down at him.

"Don't you EVER talk like that to me again. Or to my friends, for that matter. Or you will be finished with. Understand?" She stepped over him, not caring enough to wait around for his reaction.

X- Harry Potter –X

Amelia spent breakfast the next morning blatantly ignoring the dark and hateful looks coming from the Slytherin table. Flint apparantly had managed to get his nose fixed up, but he had certainly not forgotten who broke it in the first place. She didn't tell anyone about what happened, not finding the energy to care about it. Of course Oliver did notice the looks, looking at Amelia with confusion.

"Why is Flint glaring daggers at you?" Amelia dropped her fork back down on her plate, with a sigh. She hated being disturbed during breakfast.

"He's probably glaring at you. You are going to beat his ass today, remember?" Oliver shook his head.

"No, he's definitely looking at you, lass." Their conversation had gotten the attention from the rest of the team, including Harry, who had barely said a word since he'd joined them.

"Fine. I broke his nose yesterday. I guess he had it fixed up by someone." She automatically raised her hand, knowing the twins would high five her. Everyone in their group had big grins on their face, having hated the Slytherin with a passion for years.

"When did this happen?" Olliver asked, frowning. "I've been with you nearly all day."

"When I was walking back to the castle during your practice. He cornered me on my way there."

"He must've said quite a lot of bad things, to make you break his nose." Angelina said, grin still apparent on her face.

"No comment." Amelia managed to hide her grimace from most of her friends. Most of them. Oliver, Katie, Angelina, Alicia, Lee and Harry started talking about the upcoming match, but Fred and George, who were seated on either side of her, turned their faces to look at Amelia.

"Lia, what in the bloody hell did he say to you?" George asked softly.

"It's not important, Georgie." She tore her gaze away from her food to look at the hand that had grabbed hers.

"Yes it is. We've known you for most of our lives, and we know when something isn't right." Fred's voice was soft and serious. His hand, still holding hers, tensed a little and Amelia was shocked to find a little tingling sensation make its way from her hand, through her arm and straight to her stomach. She soon forgot about that sensation as the twins kept pushing on. They noticed the forming of her tears before she did and after a subtle nod, George went to distract their friends, while Fred took Amelia out of the great hall and to an empty classroom. She reluctantly sat down on one of the desks, Fred taking place on the desk in front her, with his feet on the chair behind it.

"Talk to me, Amelia." It was not often Fred used her whole name, always shortening it or finding some other way to get her attention.

"I don't want to." He looked straight at her.

"You have to. We both know you need to talk about it. Flint said something that got to you, and I want to know what. You are going to repeat every single word he said to you, and after that I'll decide if I am going to kill him alone, or get the whole group to do it. Now spill." And she did. She told him everything Flint had said to her and she noticed him getting angrier and angrier, his ears turning red and his, normally, bright blue eyes turning several shades darker. When she finished her story, she saw murder in his eyes.

"Fred.. Please, just let it go. I broke his nose, he's not man enough to admit it and I'm fine with that. Can we go now? I don't want you to be late." Seeing the plea in her eyes, he nodded and got off the table. Before she was able to lead the way to the door, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into him for a hug. She stiffened at first, not being used to being hugged by either of the twins, and then relaxed. "Thank you, Freddie."

"You're welcome, Lia."

X- Harry Potter –X

They'd won! The cup was theirs! Amelia had been pulled into the group hug and together they were jumping and screaming, the twins lifting Harry onto their shoulders and Oliver pulling her against his chest, kissing her in front of everyone. When he did, Amelia realized something. She did not like it. Not just the fact that he did it in front of a lot of people, but the kiss itself. It felt wrong for some reason. Deciding to forget about it for a moment, they went up to the common room to party. The twins and Lee went to raid the kitchen for butterbeer and somehow succeeded in sweet talking the house elves into handing over some firewhiskey. While they did that, the other Gryffindors readied themselves for the party. Some seventh years managed to conjure up a banner with a roaring lion and some muggle students managed to get their muggle radio working. When the twins and Lee returned, the party was already in full swing. It didn't take long for little groups to form, and soon there were drinking games being played. Amelia had been strolling the room, engaging in a little chit chat with several students, before stopping to join her friends in the circle they had formed with a bunch of sixth and seventh years.

"What are we playing?" She asked Katie, who was sitting on her left side.

"Truth or dare."

"Always a good idea when our lovely devil duo is involved." Katie grinned, before her attention was back on the game. Meanwhile, Amelia looked around the circle, trying to figure out who else was playing. Besides their normal group, there was Jacob Wilkins, who was a friend of Oliver, Denise James, who was a sixth year and the girlfriend of Jacob and Cameron Jones, a sixth year that was Denise's friend and that had grown up just a few villages over. She was shook out of her thoughts when Denise called her name.

"Amelia, truth or dare?" She took a few seconds to think about it.

"Truth."

"Have you ever gone skinny dipping?" She nodded, a grin apparent on her face. She tried not to look at Katie, afraid that she would start laughing. They'd actually been skinny dipping at the beginning of summer, when Katie had stayed with her for a few nights. Before anyone could ask for more information, Amelia turned to George.

"Georgie, truth or dare?"

"Dare, of course."

"I dare you to seduce one of the guys. And it can't be your twin, because that would be creepy." George didn't waste one moment, immediately standing up and making his way over to Oliver. Amelia couldn't help but laugh as none other than George Fabian Weasley tried his hardest to seduce her boyfriend. As she watched Oliver laughing at George's antics, she thought back to the feeling she'd had earlier. Why did that kiss feel wrong? To be honest, she'd been having more little moments of doubt over the past few weeks. She figured that it was probably just her imagination. After a few rounds and a little encouragement from the twins and Jacob, the questions and dares got a little steamier.

"Lia, truth or dare?" It was Jacob's turn to ask.

"Dare." There appeared a wicked look in his eyes as he thought of a dare.

"I dare you to snog someone of our group either male or female." She was about to say that it was no problem and that she'd just choose Oliver, when he continued. "But it can't be Oliver." Amelia's mouth dropped open. But, she decided, she was not going to let them brand her as a coward.

"I'm all for it. But I'm not deciding who. You can decide." Jacob thought about it for a while, leaning over to Denise to ask her what she thought.

"We have decided. Do you want male or female?"

"Male."

"Okay, Cameron it is." Amelia frowned at Jacob for making her kiss someone other than her boyfriend, but got up anyway. She moved over to where Cameron was sitting, across the circle and kneeled in front of him. He smiled nervously at her, but still managed a wink. She smiled back and leaned in, lightly pressing her lips to his. His lips were a bit chapped, but the kiss wasn't all that bad. When she sat back down in her own spot, she noticed Oliver looking confused for some reason. She mentally shrugged, thinking it was probably nothing, and went back to the game. It was only two rounds later that McGonnagal appeared to break up the party, stating that they would have to go to bed.